IT'S TOUGH BEING A JOBLESS GRADUATE.

I thought I was alone in the search for employment in this highly competitive world that has become callous in retrospect. Then I came to realize I am not alone (read KEPSA-KYEP Project). I am devoid of the lone ranger mentality. Even those people who have contacts are still hustling. So sad. They need to keep the fire burning though. Some were given jobs you would think their godfathers are only interested in exacerbating their already fragile plight of making them slide lower in the social ladder.

What however caught my ear were the anecdotes some of the graduates have gone through and some continue going through in the quest to find a good job that is rewarding and sustaining but still very elusive.

When a graduate resorts for an internship that pays for something just slightly above half the minimum national wage in the city, you know that youth unemployment is a ticking time-bomb that needs to be reigned on like yesterday.

The challenge that however remains is the old guard who have refused to let go of the lucrative positions they hold in some of the ministries that matter in the public service. They come up with archaic ideas to enrich themselves because they know they can get the funding by presenting a feasible proposal to would be donors.

Back in campus, I remember one of the lecturer alluded to the fact that some of the strategists and policy makers at the treasury were men and women who had served in the post colonial government and even though we have marked the golden jubilee, they still hold onto positions because of reasons best known to them. They shun the volatile and political posts that offer no security when a regime changes.

The public service has employed more aged people than the youth. Ideally, this is the year in which most youths should expect to be absorbed in the public service following a five year hiatus due to the extension of retirement age (most youths think it should be 50 years). What is frustrating is that some of those old-guards only want to continue lolling in the lucrative and prestigious parastatals because of easy money as a result of the unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy that has dogged most ministries since time immemorial (read being oiled by the ever short-cut seeking plebeian). 

They want to be retained on contractual terms on retirement and most due to their vast experience retain some of the positions much to the chagrin of newbies who have to be content with being casuals or working under the old dogs year in year out. Some of the newbies even forget that they need to be employed on permanent basis and the terms and conditions of employment properly outlined. But due to desperation, you accept whatever you are given because so many need that post.

There is this slogan being pelted to every youthful chap outside there by the proletariat who fear the unemployed like a Nairobian does the hobos who have their hands smeared with stool ready to attack. Uwi. It has to do with starting a business or engaging in entrepreneurship. My God! If statistics serve me right, very few youths want to hear of starting a business since they don't know where they are heading and how to go about it because they are not empowered. It is like crossing a river and the next point after that is a thicket with no vistas in place to give light on the probable next point of sojourn.

Again, very few banks and investors want to engage in the risky venture of seed capital even though you may meet some of the minimum threshold required to get the money.

My pal told me of a friend who told him of the minimum amount he should expect as a graduate (Sh.50000 net). Roughly, a mtu wa mjengo/ jamaa wa mkono is paid approximately sh.500 a day. That roughly adds to of minimum of sh.12000 exclusive of worship days if he works for 24 days in a month. Koroga days they are usually paid more.

Therefore, as a graduate, you need to be paid more. However you are doing half of what the person makes hoping things will improve. I beg to know the person who came up with the idea that irrespective of skills acquired or gained, one should be paid as a likewise those with no skills. However, Drake sung starting from the bottom. Likewise Ringtton.

The bugger who came up with the theory still wakes up at 1100hrs (earning 50k having gone to campus) and hopes to get a good job someday. The illusions of having been a campus graduate still haunt him not to take any job that nevr pays below his minimum requisition. He hopes to make it big sometime in life. Patience pays. Does it pay for those sleeping till eleven in the morning?

In fact, it has become prestigious to be employed. As long as you are taking something small at home, you are good to go. 

The lacuna between you and your friend who was lucky to be employed is real. The terse confab you engage in tells you precisely that things have changed. The bugger will tell you to continue hustling and probably give you a "kachwani" because your net worth and plight is probable to that status.Worse still, the frustrations are written on your face and in your grooming. On the contrary they are more preened, sophisticated, polished and only gibber in the Queens patois. Work ethic I tell you.

There was one graduate who went to look for employment and because of his patience, he got the job. I read somewhere that in order to be noticed by the receptionists as a job seeker, you need to be standing and noticeable. Seating may make the receptionist forget about you and as such not be able to communicate with the relevant authorities to either call security or usher you in.

The graduate (let me call him Innocent) being a patient person had reported in time. There were two positions to be filled.  Obviously during an interview, the number of people who turn up are usually very high. Five hours into waiting, no one had been called, hence they continued waiting. Some got tired and hungry and because the organization did not seem to mind about them, they walked out in protest.

At 1700hrs, they had not been called in for interview, but usual Innocent kept on waiting. Everyone went away because they knew that it was past working hours and there was no interview after all. 

At 1830hrs, Innocent was called by a certain jungu who was the CEO of the company. He was asked if he was among those who were in for the interview and he answered on the affirmative. 

At that moment, the jungu apologized for keeping him waiting and the next thing he was taken to a five star hotel, given his appointment letter, some cash and bought bruchupper (breakfast lunch and supper ).

The search for a good job is usually frustrating. Those who get employed early on in life also have their frustrations. Meeting deadlines, obnoxious bosses, inimical requirements and a host of other things that only God knows. Others are engaging in entrepanuaship. Lucky them.

Frustrations that groweth an individual are experiential though. They make one courageous and steadfast. They aid in giving one temerity and vigour so that you know that it is never easy even as you surge.

That reminds me of the story of a chap who squandered all the money his old man had worked hard to make. It was approximately Sh.60000 because it was meant for the purpose of the purchase of a good laptop that would serve for many years.

Days later, the dude rung the father that he had lost the cash and his old man devised a plan to teach him a lesson.

He was told that he had been secured a good job in a reputable firm dealing in sugar. Upon reporting, he was to be a porter, transporting 50 kg sack from one point to the other. Since he never wanted to quit because the father had intimated to it being a white collar and the fact that he would call his supervisor, the chap had no option but to go back and do the job because he was also on long holiday staying with the dad.

After two weeks, the boy could not keep up and he overslept after becoming zonked out. His father as usual called the supervisor and asked if the boy had reported to work. He never bothered because he had taught him a lesson. 

Months later, the boy got the courage to ask why he had been subjected to the torture. His father being very diplomatic told him he wanted him to learn that it was never easy making money in this world (sometimes you have to sweat). He also knew that he had messed up with ladies and used the money for buying a laptop to imbibe liquor in high end joints. Unbeknownst to him, his father had seen him because he had gone to catch some pints and saw him ordering for liquor like a boss.

Youths are really skilled and dexterous (some are a let down though). They are pursuing education as a means to an end. They forget that they also have talents. They want white caller jobs, they wanted to wake up and find that they have been employed in the most lucrative positions. They think that it is like the days of our fathers where form four leavers were hand picked to go and work for the organizations some realy wish they would be given a chance to go to. The worst thing is that being a policeman is so coveted to the extent that people part with hefty bribes to make it to the force. The military is also not spared either. 

Struggle people will struggle but the notion that Education is the only thing should change. The SW rule applies. This means after education, something will or something won’t happen in terms of employment. Hustling should be a requisite as things change. Successful people look like YOU and ME.

SITUONANE

[Photo Source: Goolge Images]